I've Decided To Be This Tyrant's Dark Moonlight - Chapter 73

Halfway through the embrace, the carriage suddenly stopped. The golden bells hanging from the corners jingled, producing a crisp, clear sound.

Outside, the voice of the Noble Consort could be heard.

Wei Ying was already getting tired from holding him and wanted to take a short break. She had just loosened her grip when Yun Shao grabbed her sleeve, unwillingly squirming.

Yun Shao bit her lip and looked at her: “Mm-hmm~”

Wei Ying: “……”

Yun Shao pouted: “Mm-hmm!”

Wei Ying silently continued holding him.

The Noble Consort had initially led a squad of light cavalry to reach the Songchuan hunting grounds ahead of them. On the way, hearing that there had been assassins, she excitedly turned her horses around and raced back. Ignoring the objections of Eunuch Fushou, she drew aside the carriage curtain and leapt onto her horse: “Ying Ying, Your Majesty, are you both alright?”

When Pei Que finished speaking, she saw the two inside the carriage clinging to each other like conjoined twins.

After a brief silence, she said: “Looks like nothing serious happened.”

Wei Ying gave her a helpless smile and pressed down on the emperor, who was wriggling in her arms. After all, he was the emperor—she wasn’t going to give in, not like he would…

Pei Que, having heard that the assassins had all committed suicide, felt slightly uninterested but decided to sit in the carriage as a guard to protect Wei Ying and the emperor.

So, she thought for a moment and sat across from Wei Ying and the emperor. After a while, the Noble Consort spoke: “Your Majesty, why are you glaring at me?”

Wei Ying lowered her gaze. The emperor immediately became obedient, lowering his head and entwining his fingers: “What is the Noble Consort saying? I don’t understand.”

Pei Que: “Weren’t you just glaring at me?”

Yun Shao blinked innocently: “Did I?”

Pei Que scratched her head in disbelief, deciding she must have been mistaken. She then ignored the emperor and focused on speaking to Wei Ying: “Ying Ying, the Songchuan hunting grounds are much larger than that little patch at Baoyun Palace. Once we arrive, we can go horseback riding together!”

Wei Ying pressed down on the emperor and smiled, nodding.

Pei Que’s face lit up with a bright smile: “There will also be a contest during the autumn hunt to see who catches the most game. We can compete then!”

Wei Ying teased: “Alright, but since the Noble Consort has been here so many times, you’ll let me win, right?”

Pei Que shook her head: “No! To keep things fair, I’ll tell you where the game is most plentiful. The hunting grounds only have some captured deer and rabbits, not very exciting. The forests to the west have some wild animals, though last time I even hunted a wild boar! Well, the meat wasn’t tasty.”

Wei Ying smiled and was about to respond when someone tugged on her sleeve.

Yun Shao: “Mm-hmm!”

Wei Ying looked down, smiling: “Your Majesty, what is it?”

Yun Shao bit her lip, her black eyes sparkling as she said, “I, I, I want to eat an orange.”

Wei Ying reached for an orange on the table: “Then, Your Majesty, move over a bit and I’ll peel it for you.”

Yun Shao: “No.”

Wei Ying displayed a troubled expression: “Then what should we do? Peel it yourself, Your Majesty?”

Yun Shao grabbed her sleeve, shaking her slightly, pouting like a child: “No.”

Wei Ying bit her lip and tentatively asked in a suggestive tone: “Peel it alone, Ying Ying?”

Wei Ying: ……

Peeling the orange alone wasn’t impossible—after all, she had nimble hands as well as a flexible tongue. So Wei Ying maintained her position holding the emperor, using one hand to carefully and slowly peel the small orange.

The sweet and refreshing aroma of the tangerine filled the carriage in the warm afternoon sunlight.

Wei Ying lowered her gaze, patiently peeling the orange.

Her jade-white cheeks were bathed in a soft golden light, her pink lips slightly pursed, her expression calm and serene.

The emperor pressed against her arm, tilting his head toward the Noble Consort, eyes flashing with a teasing light: Hah, orange outsider.

Noble Consort: ???

“Your Majesty, did I offend you? Why are you always glaring at me?”

Wei Ying glanced, and Yun Shao quickly blinked innocently: “What is the Noble Consort talking about? I didn’t glare at you at all.”

Pei Que realized this wasn’t a hallucination: “Pah!”

Dog emperor!

Wei Ying finished peeling the orange. Suddenly, the Noble Consort leaned over, opened her crimson lips, and Wei Ying instinctively fed her. The tiny orange, no bigger than a baby’s fist, was snatched up in one bite.

She suddenly remembered something and looked down, meeting the emperor’s heartbreakingly sad gaze.

Plop.

It seemed as if something had broken.

Yun Shao held her chest, feeling her kaleidoscope heart shatter into pieces. She realized she was the “orange outsider.”

Wei Ying looked away guiltily: “Your Majesty, I’ll peel another one.”

Yun Shao: “Two!”

Pei Que couldn’t bear to watch their sticky, conjoined-twin behavior anymore. She lifted the carriage curtain, took a deep breath of the cool autumn air. The wind blew into the carriage, diluting the tangerine scent and mingling with an inexplicable sourness in the air.

Pei Que inhaled deeply, feeling relieved, and urged the caravan to speed up. She wanted to get to the hunting grounds and ride as soon as possible.

At the Noble Consort’s constant urging, the caravan moved forward. A journey that would have taken a whole day was completed by dusk, arriving at the Songchuan hunting grounds.

Upon arrival, the Noble Consort, like a runaway husky, waved to Wei Ying and immediately leapt from the carriage onto a waiting steed. Waving her whip, she dashed into the hunting grounds.

Only the two of them remained in the carriage. Wei Ying could finally relax, collapsing to the side.

Yun Shao obediently lay next to her, pouting her “bottom,” while she peeled the orange for Wei Ying.

“Ying Ying, open your mouth.”

Wei Ying obediently parted her lips and bit into a sweet segment of the orange. She noticed Yun Shao’s posture and recalled fragments of dreams, smiling as she casually asked: “Your Majesty, did that gentleman of yours often hit you back then?”

Yun Shao paused, her eyes darting, then smiled after a moment: “Yes, no… the hits were very light. I cried loudly on purpose; it didn’t really hurt at all.”

Wei Ying: ……

She ruffled the emperor’s hair: “That gentleman was so bad, hitting you. Did you dislike her?”

Yun Shao shook her head obediently: “Ying Ying hit me because she loved me. I even wanted Ying Ying to hit me more.”

Wei Ying looked at her pouting “bottom” and frowned: “No more hitting, get down!”

Emperor: “Wah.”

Wei Ying lifted the curtain and jumped out of the carriage. The emperor followed reluctantly. The crimson sun sank, the sunset colors dimming, and a few stars appeared in the deep blue sky.

Next to the hunting grounds was the summer retreat, adjacent to Yanbo Hall. In summer, she often came here with Xiao Qianxue to ride horses.

The emperor refused to let her go to her quarters and insisted on riding. She went to the herd to pick a horse first.

The horses were all robust, divine steeds. Wei Ying chose a sleek black one with a smooth, glossy mane. She led it out, while Yun Shao watched, not picking a horse herself.

Wei Ying raised her eyebrows in surprise: “Your Majesty, didn’t you say we’d ride together?”

Yun Shao arched her brows, walking beside her across the vast, open grasslands. She started recalling childhood memories: “Back then, when I first learned to ride, Ying Ying taught me.”

Wei Ying, holding the black horse, tilted her head: “Did Your Majesty learn well?”

Yun Shao smiled, thinking of something, her gaze distant: “I was so clumsy and scared of the big horse, crying and refusing to get on. Ying Ying said, ‘Your Majesty, one day you will rule the world; you must learn to ride and shoot.’”

Wei Ying remained silent, listening.

Yun Shao continued: “I still cried and refused. I scolded myself: ‘I’m really foolish.’ But the gentleman was patient and gentle. She held me behind her, teaching me to ride.”

Wei Ying suddenly realized something and looked at her. Yun Shao gave a sly smile and tugged her sleeve: “Ying Ying, shall we ride together?”

“Your Majesty, riding together—won’t it crush the little horse?”

Yun Shao bit her lip: “I’m light, Ying Ying,” she murmured softly, “please?”

Wei Ying stayed silent.

Yun Shao lowered her head, tugging her sleeve slightly. Her long, dark eyelashes seemed damp with dew. She bit her lip, whispering heavily: “Ying Ying.”

Wei Ying sighed helplessly, handed over the reins, letting her mount first. Then she climbed up behind the emperor, wrapping her slender waist and holding the reins with her.

Wei Ying tilted her head softly: “Back then… it was like this?”

Yun Shao stiffened, uneasy, lowering her gaze. Her ears flushed, the night wind slightly cooling her heated face. She lowered her head and murmured softly, “Mm.”

Darkness spread across the sky, the Milky Way flowing from the firmament.

Wei Ying guided the horse, slowly walking across the grassland. Yun Shao leaned back against her, supporting herself with her own waist, maintaining a rather strenuous posture.

Wei Ying thought her waist was quite strong.

Yun Shao nervously wrinkled her golden sleeves, slowing her breathing. She remembered when she was little, looking up at the young woman riding a white horse, smiling as she galloped against the wind. Her white sleeves rolled in the air, tracing neat arcs—

Her hair flew in the wind, dyed golden by the sunlight. When she smiled, her beautiful brows and eyes seemed to glow, light emanating from her and illuminating the world.

She clenched her fists, slightly turning her body to look at Wei Ying.

Wei Ying rode casually across the grassland, chin raised, gazing at the stars overhead.

From Yun Shao’s perspective, she saw the girl’s slender, sharp jawline and ivory-white skin softening the harshness of her bone structure, making her appear a gentle, delicate Jiangnan beauty.

Yet Yun Shao had seen how radiant she once was and knew that beneath this delicate, soft exterior lay something far different. She stared at Wei Ying intently, realizing that while she no longer resembled that person in every way, she still bore traces of her everywhere.

Yun Shao reached out her finger and lightly touched the corner of Wei Ying’s mouth.

Wei Ying lowered her head, her lips brushing Yun Shao’s soft fingertip, a shiver running through her, and quickly recoiled.

The sound of hooves grew closer. Pei Que, having run a lap around the grounds, saw Wei Ying from afar and called: “Ying Ying! Let’s see who rides faster!” As she approached, she noticed a beauty sitting in front of Wei Ying.

The beauty sat sideways, clinging to Wei Ying like she had no bones.

Pei Que couldn’t bear to look and tightly held the reins, urging her horse to speed up for another lap. Passing by Wei Ying, she couldn’t help but curse: “Pah, demon… demon lord!”

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